Ball game device



April 15, 1969 L. ROSENVOLD 3,438,632

7 BALL GAME DEVICE I Filed July 21, 1965 Sheet 5 of 2 24 E5 ZI 66 FIGIZ INVENTOR Leo Rosenvold ATTORNEY April 15, 1969 ROSENVOLD BALL GAME DEVICE Sheet Filed July 21) 1965 FIG.5.

FIG.6.

INVENTOR Leo Rosenvold United States Patent 3,438,632 BALL GAME DEVICE Leo Rosenvold, Wildrose, N. Dak. 58795 Filed July 21, 1965, Ser. No. 473,874 Int. 'Cl. A63f 7/00; A63d 3/00 U.S. Cl. 273-118 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A ball game device having an elongated housing. The housing has a lower playing surface with a reversely curved wall at one end with an upper playing surface overlying the lower playing surface and slots at the end of the upper playing surface opposite the curved wall. A tray immediately overlying the lower playing surface and slidable away from said lower playing surface to be telescoped out of said housing and positioned adjacent the lower playing surface to provide an extension for the lower playing surface with horizontal legs along the edges adapted to rest upon the lower playing surface to align the tray and lower playing surface in a horizontal plane with one another. A ball for positioning on a tray and a club for striking the ball to cause it to roll along the tray and lower playing surface and upward and reversely about the curve wall onto the upper playing surface where it may roll into one of the curved slots, trap doors for releasing the ball from the slots to allow to drop onto the lower playing surface.

This invention relates to amusement equipment, more particularly the invention relates to game devices for striking and scoring balls.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel game device for striking and scoring miniature balls.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an extendable playing surface striking and moving a ball onto an upper scoring surface.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel lower playing surface for striking and moving a ball onto a detachable upper scoring unit.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the ball game device.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the ball game device.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the ball game device, with a modified form of scoring unit, mounted to the device.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the game device with the scoring unit removed, and the tee-off tray removed to reveal the interior of the game device.

FIGURE 5 is a top plan view of the ball game device.

FIGURE 6 is a top plan view of the ball game device, with the modified scoring unit installed.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the game device with the modified form of scoring unit installed.

Briefly stated, the invention comprises a device for scoring balls struck by a club having a lower regular playing surface with a reversely curved wall at one end and a telescoped playing surface extension at the other end, and a rectangular detachable upper scoring unit for receiving balls struck by a club from said lower playing surface extension onto said regular playing surface and looped by said curved wall onto said scoring unit.

Referring more particularly to the drawings in FIG- URE 1, the game device 18 is illustrated having a housing 19. The housing 19 has a pair of L-shaped side walls 20 ice and an inclined hood 21 mounted between the L- shaped walls acts as a regular playing surface.

A telescoped tray 22 acts as a playing surface extension or tee-off surface for the steel balls 23 to be struck by the club 24. g

The tray 22 when not in use is retracted to its position shown in FIGURE 2, and when used to play the game is telescoped to its position shown in FIGURE 1.

The tray 22 comprises a fiat playing board 25 having an opposed inwardly tapered edges 25' with a pair of guide rails 26 and 27 extending along the edges of the playing board 25 adjacent the edges 25" and 25".

The guide rails 26 and 27 each has projecting nose portions 26' and 27 to hook onto the regular playing surface 80, when the tray has been telescoped outward to provide a playing surface extension as shown in FIGURE The tray 22 has an upright end wall 28 at its one end which acts as a handle to move the tray in and out of the opening 81 in the housing 19, from its position shown in FIGURES 2 and 3 to its position shown in FIGURE 1.

The tee-off tray 22 also has a felt upper facing or cover for its upper surface.

At the forward edge of the inclined playing board or regular playing surface 21 is a half cylindrical wall or C-shaped wall 29 which connects along its lower edge 29' to the playing board 21 to provide a continuous surface. The housing has an opening 30 adjacent the upper end 29 of the C-wall to provide an exit for the ball 23.

Along the base legs 66 and 67 of the side walls 22 and 22 are a pair of ridges 32 and 32' which act as shoulders to support the scoring unit 33..

The scoring unit 33 has a pair of tapered side walls 34 and 35 with a glass pane 36 provide a cover or top to the unit on a playing surface board 37 spaced beneath the glass. At the front end of the scoring unit 33 is a front wall 38 and at the rear end is a wall 39 having a rectangular opening 40. v

The rectangular opening 40 in the scoring unit 33 communicates with the opening 30 in the housing, to allow the ball 25 to pass from the opening 30 through the rectangular opening 40 into the scoring unit 33 and onto the playing surface board 37.

The scoring unit 33 has its playing surface board 37 inclined downward and forward so as to enable balls 23 that pass through the opening 40 to roll downward along the playing board 37 to the front end 39 of the scoring unit. At the front end 39 of the scoring unit is a pivotally mounted metal plate 41 which is pivotally mounted to the side walls 34 and 35 by pins 42 and 43. The pin portion 42 extends through the wall 34 to form an L-shaped handle 44.

The metal plate 41 covers a narrow opening between the front edge 37 of the playing surface board 37 and the rear wall 39 of the scoring unit. A spring 45 is mounted at its upper end 46 to the wall 35 and at its lower end 47 to the plate 41 to hold the plate against the bottom of the front edge 37' of the board 37 of the scoring unit.

Eight slot members 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, and are mounted along the playing surface board to form nine slots the ball 23 when rolling down the inclined surface 37 will roll into one of the slots formed by the slot members and come to rest on top of the metal plate 41. The operator may turn the handle 44 which serves as a trap door to allow the ball 23 to drop down from the plate 41 onto the receptacle portion 56.

The receptacle portion 56 has two inclined members 57 and 58 which converge downwardly toward one another. Where the converging inclined bottom plates or members 57 and 58 are near one another, a second trap door 59 is provided.

The second trap door 59 has an elongated plate 60 with a pair of pins 61 and 62 which project into the opposite wall portions 66 and 67 of the walls 22 and 22'. The front edge 60' of the plate underlies and engages the rear edge 58 of the member 58 of the receptacle portion. A spring 63 is secured at its one end to a flange portion 64 of the plate 60 and at its other end to the base leg or wall portion 67 of the wall 22.

The Second trap door 59 may be pivoted open by forcing the metal plate 60 clockwise downward, when viewed from FIGURE 2, to allow the steel balls 23 to fall oft" the plate 60 onto the tee-off tray 22, when the tray is closed, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3.

MODIFIED SCORING UNIT The scoring unit 33 is slidably mounted in between the wall portions 66 and 67 and the end wall 69 and may be removed by sliding the scoring unit upward.

The modified scoring unit 70 has a rectangular plate portion 71 with a felt upper facing. Four ribs 72, 73, 74, and 75 define a frame about the rectangular plate and one secured to the plate or board 70.

The frame members 73 and 75 also rest upon the ribs 32 and 32 when the modified scoring unit 70 has been installed.

The modified scoring unit 70 has six holes 75 through the plate 70 of suflicient size to allow the steel balls 23 to pass through. A rectangular felt curtain 76 is secured along its top to the front face member 77 of the housing and drapes over the opening 30 in the housing.

OPERATION The game device is operated with the preferred form of scoring unit 33, substantially as follows:

The tee-off tray 22 is removed from the housing 19 from its position shown in FIGURE 2, and placed in its position shown in FIGURE 1.

A steel ball 23 is placed upon the felt surface of the playing board 25, and the player using the club 24 strikes the ball. With a reasonable amount of practice and accuracy on the part of the player, the player will strike the steel ball 23 causing the ball 23 to roll along the playing surface 25 onto the inclined regular playing surface board 80, and along the playing surface board 80 until it reaches the curved wall 29 which will cause the ball 23 to loop upward and backward through the opening 30 in the housing and through the opening in the scoring unit and onto the playing surface 37 where it will roll down the inclined surface into one of the slots formed by the slots 48-55, and come to rest on the metal plate 41.

Any selected number of steel balls 23 may be placed on the tee-off tray playing surface 25 and hit by the club 24 so as to follow the same course and come to rest on the metal plate 41.

The center slots formed by slots 5053 may have a higher value than the outside slots to provide a method of scoring.

When the player has completed firing all of the steel balls desired, the L-shaped handle may be pivoted counterclockwise, when viewed from FIGURE 2, which will cause the steel balls 23 resting on the plate 41 to drop down onto the inclined surface 56 and roll downward to come to rest on the second trap door.

When it is desired to quit playing the game, the club 24 may be placed on the playing surface 25 of the tray 22 and the tray 22 closed to its position shown in FIG- URE 2. Whereupon the scoring unit may be lifted and the second trap door 60 pushed downward, clockwise when viewed from FIGURE 2, allowing the steel balls to drop onto the tee-off tray so they will be ready for use, when it is desired to use the game device again.

When the modified scoring unit is used, the modified unit 70 is installed as shown in FIGURES 3 and 7,

and the tray 27 is also telescoped onto its position shown in FIGURE 1, and a steel ball 23 is placed on the playing surface 25 of the tee-off tray. The player will strike the steel ball with the club 24 causing the ball to roll along the surface 25 onto the upper surface of the board 80, and loop upward and backward by engaging the wall 29 and pass through the opening 30 coming to rest on the felt upper surface of the playing board 71. Some of the steel balls 25 placed on the tee-off tray and struck in such a manner may roll on the playing board 71 and fall into the holes 75 and roll down inclined sides 57 and 58 coming to rest on the metal plate 60.

The number of balls which pass through hole 75, may determine the scoring of the game.

A felt curtain 76 which drapes across the opening 30 acts to dampen .and slow down the speed of the ball 25 passing through the opening 30 to assure that they drop onto the playing board 71. The felt curtain may also be used with the scoring unit 33.

The game may be played by having each player tee-off six balls 23 and then the next player tee-off six balls 23.

When the game device is not being used it will be stored by closing the tee-off tray to its position shown in FIG- URES 2 and 3.

Thus, it will be apparent from the foregoing that a novel game device has been provided which has an interchangeable scoring unit to provide variety in playing the game.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that various changes and departures may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and accordingly, it is not intended that the invention be lim ited to that specifically described in the specification or illustrated in the drawings but only as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A ball game device having an elongated housing, said housing having a lower playing surface with a reversely curved wall at one end with an upper playing surface overlying the lower playing surface and slots at the end of the upper playing surface opposite the curved wall, a tray immediately overlying the lower playing surface and slidable away from said lower playing surface to be telescoped out of said housing and positioned adjacent the lower playing surface to provide an extension for the lower playing surface, horizontal guide rails along the edges of said extension with projecting portions to connect with said lower playing surface along its edges to align the tray and lower playing surface in a horizontal plane with one another, a ball for positioning on said 'tray and a club for striking the ball to cause it to roll along the tray and lower playing surface and upward and reversely about the curved wall onto the upper playing surface where it may roll into one of the slots, trap door means for releasing the ball from the slots to allow to drop onto the lower playing surface.

2. A ball game device according to claim 1, wherein said trap door means comprises a first trap door in said upper playing surface beneath said slots and a receptacle means beneath said slots and a second trap door at the bottom of said receptacle means, said first trap door releasing said ball from said upper playing surface onto said receptacle means, said second trap door releasing said second ball from said second ball receptacle means onto lower playing surface.

3. A ball game device according to claim 1, wherein said guide rails on said tray converge inwardly toward one another adjacent their outer end to guide the balls released through said trap door means to move toward the center of the tray.

4. A ball game device according to claim 1, wherein said slots comprises a plurality, generally horizontally, elongated plates mounted in spaced relation across the upper playing surface with the forward edges projecting toward the reversely curved wall in progressively lessened length starting from the center of the upper playing surface toward either side of the upper playing surface.

5. A ball game device according to claim 1, wherein said trap door means comprises a first trap door in said upper playing surface beneath said slots and a receptacle means beneath said slots and a second trap door releasing said ball from said upper playing surface, and onto said receptacle means Which is at the bottom of said receptacle means, said second trap door releasing said second ball from said receptacle means onto lower playing surface, and said slots comprise a plurality generally horizontally elongated plates mounted in spaced relation across the upper playing surface with the forward edge projecting toward the reversely curved wall in progressively lessened length starting from the center of the upper playing surface toward either side of the upper playing surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1910 Fitch 273-124 6/1924 Corbett 273123 11/1926 Winbigler 273--87.2 1/1936 Moorman 273121 XR 12/1912 Warren 273--125 10/1918 Haskell 273--125 8/1942 Scovil 273-136 X 3/1955 Dunseith 273- 2/1956 Turner 273-125 FOREIGN PATENTS 8/ 1934 France. 12/ 1952 France.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner. H. DINITZ, Assistant Examiner. 

